Oracle Solemn
The Oracle Solemn, original name Solemnus BLANKUS BLANK, or Solam (Amosyne), is said to be the Fourth Oracle of Iden observed by the Solemnic religions which take after his name. The Stephedists believe that Solemn was the incarnate Son of God, being half-mortal and half-divine. It was said that he possessed the abilities of divine insight, foresight, and hindsight, and could identify and exorcise demons. During his Vigil he was a strong advocate of non-violence and is known as the Oracle of Peace for his prophecy of an idyllic future where war and violence have ceased to exist. The Oracle of Solemn warns against the over-reliance on magic and otherworldly patronage, detailing how magic demands unnatural sacrifice (in Solemn's own recent history, the blood tax and blood courts) and servitude for worldly pleasures, whereas faith in God is free and has its own incomparable rewards awaiting in the Kingdom of Destiny. Biography Early life * An Ioheman senator Laramus and his wife Melena fail to conceive after years. * Melena, Laramus's wife, prayed to the gods at the Hysteria and received a messenger who promised to give the senator a son and promised that their child would not inherit any of Laramus's titles or lands, but instead the entirety of the earth as its rightful ruler, which Melena took to be an ominous warning. Laramus on the other hand interpreted this to be the gods' blessing of the child's prophesied ascension to primad. The messenger returned to the senator's villa in Melena's form and spent the night with Laramus, disappearing at sunrise. * After this event, Melena discovered she was pregnant, and they believed the senator's impotency had been cured. They named their firstborn Isaac. * A year later, the messenger returned with a baby boy conceived by the senator, and he was named Solemn, raised honestly as a half-brother to Isaac. * Both children were called "gifts from the gods." Solemn, at six years old, clarified and insisted that he was from a single God, not several, which annoyed his brother. His parents found it odd but humored him, and even allowed him to change his name at ten to Solemn BLANKUS BLANK. * Solemn (a cambion by conception) was a strange, reclusive child. Solemn would refer to Laramus as his adoptive father, which was at first deemed appropriate as a means to separate them, but later irked Isaac as ungrateful and disrespectful—insinuating his birth father was superior to Laramus. * As the firstborn heir, Isaac was entitled to their father's estate, and the illegitimate Solemn (uncomplaining) joined the military, assuring his brother of his disinterest in making claims over their shared father's inheritance. Vigil * He and his brother never really got along, with Isaac judging Solemn to be unsettling and impetuous. As Solemn's Vigil grew, his brother's envy of his half-brother's fame as an oracle turned to spite—a true gift from the gods, whereas all he received from his own father Laramus was a worldly inheritance. * Isaac contributed to the verdict that condemned Solemn as a son of devils. Death Visions Chosen One, the harbinger of peace Final Sermon Testimonies Two Wise Men *Solemn is discovered performing miracles and is hailed as the Son of God and a performer of wonders. The Botiac Clerics themselves become intrigued by this mysterious man, with two skeptical magi venturing to the oracle in his hermitage to learn his secrets of spellwork and see the "miracle-worker" for themselves. Solemn explains that he is not performing magic, he is exercising the Will of God. He clarifies that he is not a mage, and his abilities are not of his own agency but of God's design. *The first Cleric renounced his faith in the Pantheon of Ioheme and embraced Solemn's one god, becoming one of his beholders. Banishment of Desheba the Mercy of Solemn Solemn promised the consecration of the Trial of Solemn *The sorcerer-lords of Ioheme hear of Solemn and his growing congregation, growing wary of his heretical claims of divine power from a god not of the pantheon. The Iohemans decry him as a blasphemer, but the demons masquerading in the Senate sense a danger in the oracle's influence (especially after the Banishment of Desheba) and his sway in removing their toehold in Column. Miracles came from the Sorjachani, who had enshrined themselves in the Ioheman religion, and if mankind believed they could access magic through a different deity, then they would not tolerate the insurgent. **Esshianism was a minor religion predating Ioheme. Their faith in sibyls, seers, and ancient oracles was dismissed by Iohemans as superstitious until Stephedism took over. *By stoking the paranoia of the Senate and the Clerics, Solemn became targeted for heresy against the House of Promatles and summoned to trial. Solemn was noncompliant during the inquisition, calling out his judges for their fear and predisposition towards his death sentence, regardless of his truth. Shamed and shaken, his judges adjourn to discuss in private, where the demon Satan fortifies the sorcerers' resolve. Solemn is recalled for their verdict, and he is sentenced to death by stoning. **Solemn is accused of being a charlatan, performing miracles in the name of a false god and suspected of being in league with demons, who assisted in grooming him into a puppet-prophet. Stoning of Solemn *One of his judges, Pontius, later repented his condemnation of Solemn. While he did not participate in the execution, Pontius admitted that he felt like he was the oracle's killer and that he "threw the first stone" when he denied Solemn's truth. Consecration of Salavia The demons of the Underworld in Salavia suddenly vanish, just as Solemn prophesied, with the remainder fleeing to Sitaram. The Consecration of Salavia transpired almost immediately after Solemn's death, seemingly fulfilling the oracle's prophecy of a land that rejects the seductions of demonkind and embraces the world for the gift it is. Solemn's reputation is restored and his judges persecuted in the same way the Oracle was. The Lands of Solemny are drawn. Trivia Category:Esshianism Category:Oracles Category:Historical figures Category:Stephedism Category:Stephedist traditions